Baltimore Second Worst Market for Wage-Growth

Courtesy of Citybizlist – Baltimore witnessed the second-lowest wage growth across the nation, falling 0.1 percent on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a survey by PayScale.com.

The Seattle-based compensation survey firm said “workers in many locations are still feeling the slump – particularly when it comes to their paychecks,” even though the national unemployment rate is at its lowest level in three years.

Riverside, Calif., with a 3.1 percent fall in wages, was the worst job market in the country. Tampa, Fla., was third on the list with a fall of 0.1 percent; Dallas was fourth with a 0.1 percent rise; andNew York City came fifth with a 0.3 percent rise in wages.

The PayScale Index, a study of changes in wages for full-time, private-sector employees, identified the five top metro areas with the lowest growth in Q4 of 2011 compared with Q4 of 2010. The results were published on the job site Monster.com.

Katie Bardaro, PayScale’s analytics manager, blamed the weak wages growth in the five metro areas on lack of economic diversity and high presence of weak industries, such as construction and hospitality.